very nice !

cbc - canadian broadcasting corporation ?

and you have a " by panasonic " badge

Well spotted Michael. Yes, it also says radio Canada on that badge. And is the by Panasonic unusual?

couldn't make out the radio canada script on my tiny phone screen.

i think "technics by panasonic" appeared early on in technics history ?

to start ...

my sp10 mk2
krebs mod, oracle sme 345, lyra delos, herbies way excellent mat, purist audio cable
solid jarrah plinth

Michael, can you please tell me the version of Herbies mat you have on the SP10. There seem to be a lot. Hoping that one for the SP10 would do for the 401 as well!
Thanks.

hi neil,

mine was originally bought for my sl-1200

it's the herbie's way excellent II 3.7mm 285mm

the diameter is a little bit small for the sp10, for which herbies makes a bespoke 292mm mat.

are the factory sp10/401 mats the same size/shape ?

Thanks Michael.Just tried swapping my mats and they're both the same size.Only the 401 is 1mm thick/3mm with the cork on it, and the SP10 is 5mm thick.
Both 292mm dia.
One thing I've noticed with the 401,even with the rubber bands around the edge,and the mat on(cork on rubber),there is still some slight ringing of the platter when tapped.But not so with the SP10's platter.

Seeing the Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders work so well I'm considering trying a mat from them.Looks like I need the 4mm x 292mm one.
Thanks again.Will let you what I think when I get it.

you're welcome.

yes, the sp10 platter is relatively dead.

the sl-1200's rang like a bell.

The SP10 (MkII) platter has a thick layer of 'damping' material attached to the underside.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Oct 15, 2017 13:22:38 GMT 12 neilsan said:

Thanks Michael.Just tried swapping my mats and they're both the same size.Only the 401 is 1mm thick/3mm with the cork on it, and the SP10 is 5mm thick.
Both 292mm dia.
One thing I've noticed with the 401,even with the rubber bands around the edge,and the mat on(cork on rubber),there is still some slight ringing of the platter when tapped.But not so with the SP10's platter.

Seeing the Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders work so well I'm considering trying a mat from them.Looks like I need the 4mm x 292mm one.
Thanks again.Will let you what I think when I get it.

My 401 has the rubber bands as well. Having tried a lot of different mats on it, I think the best has been my Trans Fi Reso-mat
(image from the net)

Now that's an interesting mat. What do you like about it?

AMR-iFi R&D

How it sounds!

I think it isolates the record from the plinth, so doesn't transfer any sounds/vibrations from the platter.

Oct 15, 2017 17:38:05 GMT 12 Citroen said:

Is that a bright-polished SL1200 deck?

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Oct 15, 2017 18:30:54 GMT 12 Citroen said:

I think it isolates the record from the plinth, so doesn't transfer any sounds/vibrations from the platter.

I think the Reso-mat reduces record-to-platter reflections, interactions, by lifting the record off the platter surface, introducing an air-gap between.

It also (I think) decouples the record from the mass of the platter - unlike other approaches which seek to clamp/couple to vinyl to the platter material/mass.

Maybe these 'separation' techniques work esp well on direct/rim/idler drive type TTs (which do not have the isolation provided by a 'soft' drive belt?

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

i still want to try the solid copper/ gunmetal type mat as popularised by micro seiki and puresound et al.

anyone got one ?

Oct 15, 2017 17:01:38 GMT 12 michaelw said:

you're welcome.

yes, the sp10 platter is relatively dead.

the sl-1200's rang like a bell.

It rang like a bell for two reasons.  It was made from aluminium and was improperly damped.  The damping is a fail partly because they used rubber - not the best damping material, but more important they did not bond the rubber properly to the aluminium.  The solution is to strip the rubber and replace it with dynamat or epoxy resin.  When you strip the rubber - a prick of a job - you can see from the glue residue that only about half of the rubber underlay is actually bonded.  The Epoxy is the better way and when done the platter is almost stone dead.  Incidentally, doing this has another benefit: some mass is added to the platter and that increases the inertia.

With a sheet material, you have an easier path to getting consistent thickness & not upset the platter balance.

However, some density/mass usually helps, I agree.

When Dave Whittaker made his Aura TT, he adopted the 'constrained layer' approach, employing a bituminous layer against the alloy platter & then filling the the remaining space with plaster of Paris - Dave was very practical

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Resomat now on the belt drive Aura, and so far I'm liking it.

A classic 1970s Denon DP300. It's circuitry uses individual transistors (no ICs) so can still be repaired today should a transistor expire. It used a tape head to read a continuous magnetic tone manufactured into the platter inner rim for speed control.

AMR-iFi R&D

iircc damage to the magnetic stripe meant the end of speed control ?

denon made some great motor units and integrated turntables with fancy electronic tonearms etc.

currently pbn in the usa are making a series of turntable based around denon motors.

Sept 6, 2017 12:52:41 GMT 12 snewt said:

Well here it is. Switched to desktop and got all the options.
I recently acquired an Aesthetix Rhea phono stage from a fellow forum member. This has three inputs so I thought I'd mount another arm to take some of the workload off my Benz.



As it turned out I was pleasantly surprised with the sound from the rb300/Shelter 501 mkii. Very clean. Makes me wonder if I have the optimal setup on the Benz
The Rhea is a great toy as well as sounding gorgeous. I can switch between arms from my listening position with the remote.
Not sure about the looks with the 2 arms but it sure is handy. It opens up the possibility of different cartridges for different types of music.

snewt - always good to see that SP10 in American Oak plinth again. I remember it well in the basement room in Bayswater

How would you describe the sound of the Rhea?
And what did it replace?

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Oct 19, 2017 6:32:11 GMT 12 colinf said:

That's a splendid plinth, for 2 tonearms.
(Although the LHS tonearm may be at an awkward angle, depending on arm length.)

What are the dimensions of that massive wood plinth?

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

IIRC it measures about the same as my Garrad 301 plinth. 700w x 440d x 100h, roughly. It's Japanese maple. I set it up for a friend with a Linn Basik arm. It sounded great with a new tonearm cable, an Audioquest.
Yes if the magnetic strip was damaged at all you'd need to replace the platter. Not that it was easy to damage. They built them well then.
It was an interesting design in that the bearing was so frictionless that the DD motor could only speed up the platter, not slow it down effectively. So Denon installed a small plastic device on the top side of the bearing to add some friction so that the circuit could control the speed effectively.

AMR-iFi R&D

A BIG plinth!
That's big enough for a tonearm at the rear - which is the better place for a 2nd tonearm.

OTOH the LHS 'armboard' might be a 'hatch'....for storage?

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Oct 19, 2017 10:17:05 GMT 12 michaelw said:

iircc damage to the magnetic stripe meant the end of speed control ?

denon made some great motor units and integrated turntables with fancy electronic tonearms etc.

currently pbn in the usa are making a series of turntable based around denon motors.

Bling bling. A sucker for the big wood table look. 

Oct 19, 2017 11:38:42 GMT 12 Owen Y said:

Sept 6, 2017 12:52:41 GMT 12 snewt said:

Well here it is. Switched to desktop and got all the options.
I recently acquired an Aesthetix Rhea phono stage from a fellow forum member. This has three inputs so I thought I'd mount another arm to take some of the workload off my Benz.



As it turned out I was pleasantly surprised with the sound from the rb300/Shelter 501 mkii. Very clean. Makes me wonder if I have the optimal setup on the Benz
The Rhea is a great toy as well as sounding gorgeous. I can switch between arms from my listening position with the remote.
Not sure about the looks with the 2 arms but it sure is handy. It opens up the possibility of different cartridges for different types of music.

snewt - always good to see that SP10 in American Oak plinth again. I remember it well in the basement room in Bayswater

How would you describe the sound of the Rhea?
And what did it replace?

Nov 22, 2017 17:30:00 GMT 12 snewt said:

Oct 19, 2017 11:38:42 GMT 12 Owen Y said:

snewt - always good to see that SP10 in American Oak plinth again. I remember it well in the basement room in Bayswater

How would you describe the sound of the Rhea?
And what did it replace?

Nov 22, 2017 18:30:00 GMT 13 snewt said:
I loved being in that basement too Owen . Sorry it's taken so long to reply.
The Rhea story is quite a long and involved tale and should probably have its own thread so I won't go into it here. I'll just say that my arc sp6b preamplifier has been at the repairers for coming up 2 years now with a hum problem, so I've been using the little Star SA30



It has been a little trooper but I do think that either the 211 amp or the williamsons with a preamp would be a step up. I've nearly given up on the sp6b and am leaning towards getting a new linestage. 
Maybe this should have had its own thread too.

2 years! Why so & where?

The ARC preamps, whilst complex, were made for easy servicing - and solidly built, using dble-sided PCBs which were accessible from both sides of the chassis.
That model is still regarded I think, as a classic.
(Was it originally Dave W's, or did you acquire it elsewhere?)

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I used to work on the ARC preamps including the SP6s and am very familiar with them. I still prefer the sound of the SP6 to the SP8. These circuits live on in the more modern SP16. The volume control was updated to a digitally controlled one. The original circuit started with the SP2 and SP3, which, although made in the 70s, still sound good even today.

AMR-iFi R&D

A guy in Tauranga had it for a year and replaced just about everything in it but couldn't fix the problem. I then took it to a certain valve guru in Titirangi who did what he could, and is now with a vintage technician friend of his. I don't know why it has taken so long.
It wasn't Dave's, I got it from epay.